Forsberg, Monsters blank Iowa, 4-0

CLEVELAND, IA – The Iowa Wild (30-28-6-2, 68 points) were defeated by the Cleveland Monsters (32-27-3-4, 71 points) 4-0 in front of 11,395 fans on Sunday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland goalie Anton Forsberg (22-5-3) stopped all 37 Iowa shots for his third shutout of the season, helping the Monsters sweep the weekend series with Iowa. Center TJ Tynan scored 4:28 into the third period to help the Monsters build a 2-0 lead before they would pull away with the Wild netminder pulled. Cleveland’s Marcus Hannikainen and Justin Scott each added a late, empty-net goal for the four-goal victory. Iowa goalie Alex Stalock (19-16-7) took the loss with 27 saves on 29 Monsters shots. It marked the Wild’s fourth straight defeat with ten games remaining in regulation. Iowa returns home to host Rockford at 7 PM on Tuesday night in Des Moines.

After a scoreless first period, Cleveland defenseman Jamie Sifers zipped a pass through center ice for Sonny Milano, springing the Monsters forward for a breakaway.  Milano closed in on Iowa’s Alex Stalock and sent a backhand shot past the Wild goalie for the 1-0 lead. Monsters forward Markus Hannikainen added an assist on Milano’s 16th goal of the season 7:20 into the second period.

4:28 into the third period the Monsters capitalized off a turnover in the Iowa zone. Hannikainen scooped up a loose puck behind the Iowa net and slipped the puck out towards the Wild crease.  TJ Tynan grabbed the puck and fired it into the Iowa net for his tenth goal of the season and a 2-0 Monsters lead. Cleveland’s Justin Scott scored an empty-net goal at 16:21 from Nick Moutrey and Ryan Stanton to make it 3-0. Hannikainen added a second empty-goal goal with 2:47 left in regulation. His shorthanded goal was assisted by defenseman John Ramage for the 4-0 final.

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